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STUDY OF HARNESS AND TWO HEADS OF SOLDIERS WITH HELMETS; AND STUDY OF HARNESS, BY FERDINAND-VICTOR-EUGÈNE DELACROIX
BLACK CHALK, ON TRACING PAPER, LAID DOWN ON PAPER, LOWER RIGHT HAND CORNER CUT AND RESTORED (1)

On 11th January 1832, King Louis-Philippe sent a French delegation to the Sultan Moulay Abdel-Rahman in order to clarify border issues between Algeria and Morocco. Eugéne Delacroix was offered the opportunity to join La Perle, the ship bound for Morocco, to accompany Count Charles de Mornay, appointed as the head of this diplomatic mission. The trip lasted for five months, during which Delacroix took the opportunity to discover the East and it is probably during this period that he produced these studies.
Another drawing, now in the Louvre Museum, contains the same kind of studies of harnesses with equestrian saddles and stirrups: each sketch, some of which are in watercolour, is annotated with the details of colours and materials. Just like these studies, it was doubtless produced during his stay in the capital, Meknes, between 15th March and 5th April 1832 (inv. no. RF10088; M. Sérullaz, et.al., Dessins d'Eugène Delacroix 1798-1863, Paris, 1984, no. 1656).
Delacroix was extremely attentive to detail in observing the king's garments, in particular during an audience granted by the Emperor Abd-el-Rahman to the Count de Mornay: 'Then the king, who had advanced towards us and stopped very close to us. [...] A white string of beads with blue silks around his right arm, which I was able to observe closely. Silver stirrups. Yellow open-backed slippers. A pinkish and gold harness and saddle. A grey horse, with its mane cropped short. A parasol with an unpainted wooden handle, a small gold ball at the bottom, red at the top and a pocket, the underneath was red and green' (E. Delacroix, Journal 1822-1863, Paris, 1980, p. 105).
This description clearly shows the process used by Delacroix when creating his works: thus these studies of harnesses, like his numerous sketches and notebooks, would provide a permanent source of inspiration for his future painted compositions after his return to France.